Walsall Wood 4 Hinckley LRFC 3 - Report

The burly frontrunner reacted first to force home after Jai Verma’s high effort had been saved and then hit a defender, capping a remarkable comeback for a Wood side hit by Tendai Daire’s eight-minute hat-trick in the first half.

The visitors struck through their first attack of note, Jarred Acton bombing forward from full-back to roll into the free Daire who tucked past the exposed Kieran Boucher in the 13th minute.

The second soon arrived with Boucher scrambling on the floor for a loose ball, bringing down Aaron Nuttall in the box with Daire stroking in the penalty.

Daire had his treble within another three minutes, cushioning into the roof of the net on the rebound after Nuttall had cut inside, waltzed into the box and drew a good low stop from Boucher.

Shell-shocked Wood kept plugging away and gradually improved, Carter Lycett hitting the far post with a free-kick from the right flank before setting up a lifeline eight minutes before the break from a similar position, Butlin forcing his way through the crowd to head home at the far post.

The cat was thrown amongst the pigeons seven minutes after half-time when Alex Bradley forced home a deep free-kick played to the far post.

That hard work was almost immediately undone when Wood defender Matt Hughes slipped in possession, gifting the ball to Liam Read, but his centre past Boucher skipped a fraction in front of Daire’s slide towards the empty net.

There was a similar moment at the other end with Butlin close to connecting with Josh Mansell’s ball.

Wood continued to stretch Hinckley but invited another potential sucker punch when Boucher cleared straight to Daire on the corner of the box, the frontman crossing for Read who was challenged by Hayden Reeves as he shot and Boucher recovered quickly enough to block with his legs.

Persistence paid off as the tireless Verma was fouled by Yaegan Gore with Lycett swinging in another inviting free-kick for substitute Kevin Monteiro to convert from close range four minutes from the end of the 90.

And Verma was at the heart of the action again, cutting in from the left to float across goal with Butlin on hand to capitalise when substitute keeper Will Highland’s swat away hit a Hinckley body.

Wood: Boucher, Mansell, Lycett, Hughes (Monteiro, 79), Reeves, Fitzpatrick, Verma, Unitt, Butlin, Bradley (Watkins, 73) Gyasi (Brown, 90+2). Unused subs: Riley-Stewart, Riley.

Hinckley: Roggero (Highland, 56), Acton, Gill, Edwards, Astill, Humphreys, Read, Burrows (Gore, 67), Daire, Brennan, Nuttall (Williams, 76). Unused sub: Kutshienza.